Delhi: Manish Sisodia appointed nodal officer for Covid management

Amid the rising cases of Covid-19 in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has appointed deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia as the nodal officer for the management of the disease in the city. Sisodia, who also holds the charge of Education, Finance, Planning Land & Building, Vigilance, Services, Women and Child Development, Art, Culture and Languages, will be responsible for inter-ministerial coordination.

On Thursday, Delhi recorded 16,699 cases of Covid-19 and 102 deaths, taking the total number of infections to 784,137 and the death toll to 11652. The positivity rate on Thursday mounted to 20.22 per cent, the highest till date in Delhi. The city has surpassed the number of single-day cases recorded in Mumbai. Data shows Mumbai’s single-day peak so far is 11,163, which was reported on April 4.

The positivity rate mid-November last year had stood above 15 per cent. A total of 82,569 tests –– 59,401 RT-PCR and 23,168 rapid antigen –– were conducted in the city on Tuesday, the latest health bulletin showed. The number of cumulative cases on Thursday stood at 7,84,137. Over 7.18 lakh patients have recovered from the virus. The number of active cases has increased to 54,309 from 50,736 a day before, as per the bulletin. The number of people under home-isolation increased to 26,974 from 24,155 on Wednesday while the number of containment zones mounted to 8,661 from 7,598 a day before, the bulletin said

Meanwhile, a day after the government announced the weekend lockdown in the city, Kejriwal will chair a meeting to review the Covid-19 situation in Delhi with health minister Satyender Jain and other senior officials in the evening.